


The Worst/Best Day Ever

by Arcadian



Category: Inside Out (2015)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-09
Updated: 2015-08-09
Packaged: 2018-04-13 18:08:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4532046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arcadian/pseuds/Arcadian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was initially the worst day of her life. Everyone else made Sadness feel she had the least importance in driving Riley... but the truth surprised her in the end.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Worst Day Ever

**Author's Note:**

> So hey all, name's Arcadian, and Inside Out has completely consumed my life. It also managed to spark my will to write the first piece of fanfiction I've written in almost five years. Originally this was going to be a one-shot, and another one-shot was set to follow, but I decided instead to just make both one-shots into a two-parter.
> 
> I hope you have gathered your feels. It's gonna be a rough ride. (Moreso in Part 2, though!)
> 
> ALSO: Movie spoilers. Please make sure you've watched the movie or at least read the novel 'Driven By Emotions' before reading this!

It was the worst day of her life.

She just couldn't do anything right.

Staring down into the Memory Dump, Sadness began to contemplate everything that had happened up to that point... Even in the beginning, she thought she knew what her job was. When Riley was a baby, Sadness pushed the button to have her let her parents know the baby was hungry, or cold, or upset...

She knew what she was doing.

Of course, Joy pushed her away at first, wanting to make Riley happy. It was a tough life, with three other emotions eventually coming to in Headquarters, but Sadness still knew she had a job to do. Anytime Riley felt upset, or something happened that was sad, she tried to drive the controls. But Joy wouldn't let her.

She _knew_ what she was doing.

When Riley recalled the memory of she and her parents taking a picture near the dinosaur, and the car rolling backwards, Sadness felt drawn to the memory. After all, that was a memory that was kind of sad... they couldn't do that anymore, and the move was taking its toll on everyone. But when she touched it, it turned blue, and everyone simply stared at her. She drew her hand back sharply, thinking she did something wrong. Joy tried to change it back to a happy memory, but nothing worked. And then when she thought one of the core memories was loose in the holder, she brought it up and popped one out by accident - Goofball Island's orb. But when she was confronted about it, she admitted she wanted to hold one... which surprised even her.

She knew what was doing... right...?

When she was told to stand in the Circle of Sadness, and the memories were being played during Riley's first day of school in San Francisco, she felt herself being drawn to the memory of hockey. She had to be on to something. These memories were _sad_. She couldn't play hockey with her old friends anymore. She couldn't be on her old team anymore. In fact, that entire day, Sadness couldn't help but feel like she needed to _be there_ for Riley. At least, at the controls. And without any other warning, she felt herself be drawn to the memory on the screen... and this time when she touched it, she snuck over to the console and tried to drive while the others were messing with the (now sad) memory.

She knew what she was doing. She had to know. It was a constant, longing, almost _magnetic_ feeling for Sadness, being drawn towards the console and the memory orbs. This was right. It had to be right. She didn't know why Joy and the others thought it was wrong, but it was a gut feeling for Sadness. This was what she was meant to do... wasn't it...?

But in doing so, Sadness created a sad core memory - which was a happy thing for Sadness. She'd done her job! Riley needed this right now, she really did! But Joy didn't want the core memory in the holder. And after a bit of a scuffle, both of them had ended up sucked into the vacuum tube with all of the core memories.

Even then, through their long journey through Riley's mind... finding Bing Bong, having to work together to get to the Train of Thought... Sadness feeling like, at long last, she and Joy might be able to get along...

The Train derailed.

They had escaped, and a recall tube was revealed from the crash. And though Sadness wanted to go along with Joy, her being too close was still corrupting the happy core memories. And so...

"I'm sorry. Riley needs to be happy."

Joy left Sadness there, and started riding the tube up... which shattered when Family Island finally started coming down, causing her to fall into the Memory Dump. Bing Bong tried to reach her, and fell into it as well. Sadness managed to barely get back to safety without falling in.

She sat down on the cliff overlooking the Dump, calling out Joy's name. Bing Bong's too. But no matter how much she tried, she couldn't hear or see them. The Dump was very far down, after all; she was surprised she could see _anything_ down there.

Eventually, her thoughts turned to the inevitable: sad. After all, she thought she had known what she was doing. But in trying to take over the console that day, creating that sad core memory, and trying to stop Joy... in the end, she was the one who caused all of this. It was _Sadness_ 's fault that Riley wasn't happy. And now... she might forget how to be happy.

All because of Sadness.

Standing up on the cliff, she momentarily debated jumping down there with them. Not to find them, but to simply be forgotten. After all, she wasn't needed. Maybe she really was broken, or she was imagining the memories calling out to her. Maybe, just maybe, she was truly useless. And with that thought firmly lodged into her mind, she decided she couldn't jump into the Memory Dump. She just couldn't bring herself to do it. So instead, she decided to roam Long Term Memory... it was extremely expansive, and easy to get lost in... perfect for her, she guessed.

More thoughts filled her mind as she found herself running her hand along the bottom row of memories, turning them blue as she went. It was the worst day of her life. She just couldn't do anything right. And in the end, all she managed to do was make life miserable for Joy, for Disgust, for Fear, for Anger...

And especially for Riley. The one she was supposed to help keep happy.

She truly didn't know what she was doing. Then, or now. She felt lost, so much so that she felt numb as she continued walking. Maybe she'd walk around forever... who knew anymore. Time seemed to pass at an irregular rate - she didn't know how long she'd been walking, but she would continue doing so.

Even though, at first, she couldn't hear the voice calling out her name from afar...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Part 2 is coming up soon, hopefully in the next little while.
> 
> It's been a long while since I've written fanfiction, so I can imagine I've gotten pretty rusty. Apologies for any grating word/phrase choices! Let me know what you thought of this part.


	2. Joy Turns To Sadness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the second part! If there's anything you did or didn't like about this, please let me know! I haven't written any fanfiction in so long, and I feel pretty dang rusty at it.
> 
> But enough about that, enjoy!

"Sadness!"

The voice rang out through the aisles of Long Term Memory, and though Sadness heard it, she kept going. It had to be a trick of the mind, she couldn't be hearing--

"Sadness!"

But there it was again. Feeling was coming again to her arms, and her entire being. She turned around, spotting Joy, and lit up for the tiniest second... before realizing that Joy was okay. And if Joy was okay... Joy needed to get back to Headquarters.

Sadness couldn't go back with her. She'd make things worse. She quickly turned around and dashed off, hearing Joy run after her a second later.

"Sadness, wait!"

"Just... just let me go!" Sadness wailed. "Riley's better off without me!" Having a pretty good headstart on the other emotion, Sadness ducked into Imagination Land, knocking over a giant pack of french fries to try and deter Joy from reaching her. Not too long after, she reached Cloud City and grabbed a cloud, soaring overhead and causing the cloud to rain teadrops as she freely let out her own tears, flying back towards Long Term Memory.

Unfortunately for her, she was soon on the receiving end of a huge burst of air, flying back towards Headquarters. But it looked like she was still going to miss it and keep flying on, so she sat down and began to contemplate her future, just floating on a cloud forever...

And then suddenly she was grabbed by someone and sent flying towards Headquarters.

"Joy...?"

Joy nodded slightly. "Hang on, Sadness!"

Once back at headquarters, Joy entrusted Sadness with the core memories, which shocked her quite a bit - but she was able to remove the idea bulb that had caused Riley to run away, and reminded her of home and her family with the core memories. And things were going to be alright. Because of Sadness, Riley was able to get home and reunite with her family, and tell them about how she misses home, and how she knows her parents want her to be happy, but she just wanted to go home.

They couldn't go home, but they were all together... they were sad together. Joy and Sadness created the first blended core memory by driving the console together, and it seemed like everything was okay.

\--

That night, Sadness had offered to do dream duty. After all, Joy had done so much with working to get them back... and Fear, Disgust and Anger had done as much as they could in their absence. It shocked everyone else, sure, that she actually _offered_ , but she couldn't sleep. She didn't tell them, but she needed some time to herself.

As the dream began (a simple one about her old house in Minnesota), Sadness sat down at the console and heaved a large sigh. The journey was a very, very tiring one, and Sadness was already tired from all the running she did. She definitely didn't have as much energy as Joy did! But it seemed Sadness wasn't broken after all. She had a purpose, and Joy trusted her with the most important thing that the emotions have ever needed to do as a team. That had to count for something, right? Sadness tried, but she couldn't push all of the negative thoughts out about the trip. There were just... things that were bothering her. She didn't hold anything against Joy, but...

Suddenly, some soft footsteps were heard behind her, and soon, she heard a voice.

"You always did know what you were doing, didn't you?"

Turning slightly, Sadness saw Joy looking at the big screen, before turning to Sadness.

"I guess... I always _thought_ I did, before... it all happened..." Sadness looked down a little.

Joy cracked a pretty big smile, even if that was normal for her. "No, you _did_. I realized that, when we came back. Sometimes things needed to be sad..." and it was hard for her to admit it, too. But she had to, to make things up to Sadness.

"When Riley was a baby... I was the one who needed to signal that she was hungry... or cold..." Sadness looked at her hands.

"Right! Like when we got Riley home today... you were able to get them to comfort her. That was your role all along!"

"Mmhm." Sadness looked back up to Joy. "Sometimes, we've gotta be sad... it's not what we _wanted_ Riley to be... but it's something she needed. For the move." She smiled a small smile. "She needed the support."

"Oh, Sadness..." She knelt down a bit in front of her friend. "I'm so, so sorry."

Sadness looked at her. "For what?"

"For... everything." Joy looked down a little. "For suppressing you. For keeping you from doing what you thought was right. For making Riley's situation worse because you couldn't be there for her. For leaving you behind... For... trying to throw away a very important memory." She looked back up again. "I... I just..."

And that small smile was still on Sadness' face. "You were just doing what you thought was right, Joy. Nothing more... and nothing less..."

When Sadness saw Joy's face light up, she knew that her friend understood. She never held anything against her. She didn't _like_ being mistreated, but... she understood _why_. And that was something Sadness could always attest to.

"What matters is, we all learned an important lesson." Sadness looked over at the big screen. "No matter what... to make Riley happy, sometimes we gotta do things that might not always be happy... but in the end, might make her truly happy..." And tears began to roll down her face; the dream had turned to a repeat of the running away. "We... we have to be there for her... no matter what..."

And suddenly, without much other warning, Sadness felt an embrace - Joy had wrapped her arms around her in a hug.

"I know, Sadness. And we'll make Riley happy. _Together_! All of us. Better late than never, right?"

Sadness sniffled a bit, and wiped her eye before hugging Joy back. "R-Right..." Oh, she _wanted_ to cry more. It's what she would have done in any situation like this. Everything that had happened was so sad... but having Joy there made her feel somewhat better. Better than crying would have made her. So she just stayed in the embrace, sniffling a bit more.

"If you need to cry..." Joy started, before she felt her friend's head shake.

"I-I'll be okay..." Sadness pulled back from the embrace, tears still in her eyes... but smiling. "For now."

And she meant it, too. There was... something warm about having hugged her friend. Maybe her optimism was rubbing off on her a little. It'd likely be temporary, but... Sadness kind of liked it. And she was sure that she helped Joy, as well, in her own way. It was what she was there for, after all.

It was her purpose, and her meaning. She knew what she was doing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now before any of you ask 'where's Bing Bong?', this is actually following the theory that when he was forgotten, the emotions ended up forgetting him as well, at least until they see another memory of him. (that's the only way I can imagine they'd remember him after the memory dump). Plus, someone else did a quite excellent one-shot of Joy's sorrow over Bing Bong in here, and I highly recommend you read it! I don't want to steal their thunder and do the same kind of thing.
> 
> I hope you've enjoyed this as much as I've enjoyed writing it. I plan on doing a series of drabbles/one-shots between this time and the end of the movie, and potentially afterwards too. And I actually do have a few Crossover AUs and the like in the works, so whether you like in-universe or crossover/AU stuff better, I'll have new things on both those fronts!


End file.
